Hamraj's Leadership at Ontario Tech
My time in all these leadership roles at Ontario Tech has been nothing less than a unique and fun time. I was lightly involved with our game development clubs on campus but never really did much outside of that. My involvement with the Game Development Students Association (GDSA), the Game Art Club (GAC) and the Game Programming Club (GPC) would be limited to showing my face and going about the rest of my business.
It wasn't until my third year of university that I took the initiative to get involved on a leadership level. If I went back and told my first-year self that these are things I'd be doing by my fourth year, I'd be pretty shocked. From starting as a liaison on the GDSA to now being the President and helping create the Game Sound Club (GSC) to provide more for the students.
These roles helped shape who I am and are such a large part of my life today. These roles led me to do so many things in such a small amount of time, from getting to work with some inspiring people, providing students with some incredible opportunities, improving my own interpersonal and leadership skills, to just having a good time. Being a leader at Ontario Tech has shown me much more to leadership than meets the eye.
Work Experience
I’ve had the pleasure of gaining multiple work experiences throughout my four years, most recently, interning as an associate producer and level designer at MassDigi Studios. This opportunity allowed me to work in a realistic game development studio setting.
Over the summer of 2021, I also had the chance to do an internship as a project manager on a VR driving simulator in collaboration with our ACE facilities on campus. Working with people on different levels, from teammates to professors and the ACE facility workers, gave me my first real experience coordinating a project in such a multi-faceted scenario.
Also, within the summer of 2021, I was able to work on a capstone project with the Toronto Zoo. My team and I developed a beta version of a game that educates youth audiences on climate change and Canadian animals being affected by habitat changes in an interactive form.
These projects have given me the experience to understand the game development process, a side of the production process, and the design processes. It’s marvelous that I’ve participated in all these experiences, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.
Hamraj’s Advice
My advice to new or returning students looking to get involved is just to get involved. It may seem like the cliché answer to say, “just do it,” but it is true. You’re not going to know what you’re missing out on until you try it out. You open many opportunities and experiences that you’d never expect simply by being involved - even if it isn’t on a leadership level.
Contact Hamraj
Get in contact with Hamraj through email (hamraj.rai@ontariotechu.net) or LinkedIn. You can message him about anything related to the game development program, whether design, game production, music, art, programming, or just general questions. He would love to talk!
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